Business Succession

Planning for the Future, Today

As a business owner, you understand you won’t operate your business indefinitely. Whether you plan to pass the reins in a few years or a few decades from now, your business deserves to have a succession strategy in place today. When you have a plan in place, clients, partners and suppliers will have confidence in the stability of your business.

We can help you clarify your succession goals, build a business succession plan, manage your risk and adjust your plan as growth happens. We’ll also work with your professional resources to create and implement a strategy that works for you and your business. We can offer assistance with the following strategies to make succession planning a smooth experience:

Many business owners have a child or other family member interested in taking over their business. A family buy-sell agreement gives your business heir the first option to buy the family business from heirs who are not active in the business. You can set favorable contract terms to make the purchase more affordable, yet still provide fairness for your non-business-owner heirs.

Additional Options

In addition to succession strategies for your business, you may want to consider the following provisions to ensure your vision and legacy lives on:

The unexpected loss of a key employee or manager can hurt your business – lost income or profit, disruption of management and costs incurred to replace the key employee are just some of the areas that could feel the impact. Key Person Insurance can protect your business from the unexpected costs of losing a key employee and provide needed funds when it matters the most.

You can provide an attractive fringe benefit for your key employees, designed to retain your best and most valuable employees and embolden their loyalty. Be selective – pick and choose only the employees that help build the success of your business.

After building a successful business, a charitable remainder trust (CRT) can help you transition some of your assets into retirement income, thus reducing your tax burden, increasing your retirement income and allowing you to make a generous gift to your favorite charities.